First humpback whale spotted in harbour

Photo / Department of Conservation

A humpback whale spent a couple of hours mooching around Whangarei Harbour yesterday.

It is thought it was the first humpback seen in the harbour.

People at Urquharts Bay and Taurikura called whale expert Ingrid Visser to tell her the whale was heading up-harbour. Residents on vantage points were able to use their phones to guide Dr Visser's team to the whale.

The whale expert and her team located the humpback just after 9am and stayed near it for an hour.

"We followed it from Urquharts Bay up the harbour and left it near Snake Bank, right in the middle of the harbour," an elated Dr Visser said.

During the time the whale was accompanied by Dr Visser's boat it offered a magnificent view of itself once when it breached - leaping completely out of the water.

"It was definitely an adult, but we didn't see its belly so couldn't tell if it was male or female."

The team on the boat saw bite marks on the whale's body from a cookie cutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), also called a cigar shark.

With the whale's back to the boat Dr Visser was unable to see if there were ropes attached to its lower jaw.

She was hoping to tell if it was the same humpback seen last month near the Bay of Islands with rope entangled near its mouth.

That sighting came just hours after Dr Visser and DoC marine experts freed another whale from ropes further north off Karekare.

They had attached a grapnel hook, line and five buoys to the whale, the cluster of buoys acting as a floating anchor to tire and slow it enough for rescuers to cut the rope off its thorax.

Dr Visser said it was illegal to take boats closer than 50m to any whales. Anyone sighting whales could call the specialist's hotline, 0800seeorca.